Gut Microbiome Changes Occurring with Norovirus Infection and Recovery in Infants Enrolled in a Longitudinal Birth Cohort in Leon,Nicaragua

Noroviruses are associated with one fifth of diarrheal illnesses globally and are not yet preventable with vaccines. Little is known about the effects of norovirus infection on infant gut microbiome health, which has a demonstrated role in protecting hosts from pathogens and a possible role in oral vaccine performance. In this study, we characterized infant gut microbiome changes occurring with norovirus-associated acute gastroenteritis (AGE) and the extent of recovery. Metagenomic sequencing was performed on the stools of five infants participating in a longitudinal birth cohort study conducted in León, Nicaragua. Taxonomic and functional diversities of gut microbiomes were profiled at time points before, during, and after norovirus infection. Initially, the gut microbiomes resembled those of breastfeeding infants, rich in probiotic species. When disturbed by AGE, Gammaproteobacteria dominated, particularly Pseudomonas species. Alpha diversity increased but the genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and glycan biosynthesis decreased. After the symptoms subsided, the gut microbiomes rebounded with their taxonomic and functional communities resembling those of the pre-infection microbiomes. In this study, during disruptive norovirus-associated AGE, the gut microbiome was temporarily altered, returning to a pre-infection composition a median of 58 days later. Our study provides new insights for developing probiotic treatments and furthering our understanding of the role that episodes of AGE have in shaping the infant gut microbiome, their long-term outcomes, and implications for oral vaccine effectiveness.     

Effect of midazolam on delirium in critically ill patients: a propensity score analysis

ObjectiveTo observe the association between exposure to midazolam within 24 hours prior to delirium assessment and the risk of delirium.MethodsWe performed a systematic cohort study with two sets of cohorts to estimate the relative risks of outcomes among patients administered midazolam within 24 hours prior to delirium assessment. Propensity score matching was performed to generate a balanced 1:1 matched cohort and identify potential prognostic factors. The outcomes included the odds of delirium, mortality, length of intensive care unit stay, length of hospitalization, and odds of being discharged home.ResultsA total of 78,364 patients were included in this study, of whom 22,159 (28.28%) had positive records. Propensity matching successfully balanced covariates for 9348 patients (4674 per group). Compared with no administration of midazolam, midazolam administration was associated with a significantly higher risk of delirium, higher mortality, and a longer intensive care unit stay. Patients treated with midazolam were relatively less likely to be discharged home. There was no significant difference in hospitalization duration.ConclusionsMidazolam may be an independent risk factor for delirium in critically ill patients.     

重症监护病房呼吸机相关肺炎临床与病原学分析

目的分析重症监护病房(ICU)呼吸机相关肺炎(VAP)的临床、病原学和耐药特点。方法以复旦大学附属中山医院ICU行气管插管或气管切开患者为对象,采用前瞻性队列研究,分析VAP患者的临床资料、病原菌构成及药敏试验结果。结果98例人工气道机械通气患者中52例发生VAP,VAP发生率为53·1%;VAP发病为每1000插管日32·4例。慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)史、H2-受体阻断剂、抗生素应用种类及时间、肠饲营养、APACHEⅡ评分、机械通气时间、胃液pH值、低蛋白血症、气管切开、重复气管插管、口咽部革兰阴性杆菌定植、意识障碍均与VAP发病有关。外科重症监护病房VAP最常见的病原体为鲍曼不动杆菌(18·6%),其次为铜绿假单胞菌(15·7%)和金黄色葡萄球菌(12·9%)。早发性VAP病原体以革兰阳性球菌为主,晚发性VAP以革兰阴性杆菌特别是非发酵菌为主,细菌耐药率高。结论明确VAP的发病因素和致病菌,有利于合理使用抗生素和防治VAP。     

Prognostic Factors in Endodontic Surgery Using an Endoscope: A 1 Year Retrospective Cohort Study

This retrospective study clarified the success rate of endoscopic endodontic surgeries and identified predictors accounting for successful surgeries. In this retrospective study, 242 patients (90 males, 152 females) who underwent endoscopic endodontic surgery at a single general hospital and were diagnosed through follow-up one year later were included. Risk factors were categorized into attributes, general health, anatomy, and surgery. Then, the correlation coefficient was calculated for the success or failure of endodontic surgery for each variable, the odds ratio was calculated for the upper variable, and factors related to the surgical prognosis factor were identified. The success rate of endodontic surgery was 95.3%, showing that it was a highly predictable treatment. The top three correlation coefficients were post, age, and perilesional sclerotic signs. Among them, the presence of posts was the highest, compared with the odds ratio, which was 9.592. This retrospective study revealed the success rate and risk factors accounting for endoscopic endodontic surgeries. Among the selected clinical variables, the presence of posts was the most decisive risk factor determining the success of endodontic surgeries.     

Abdominal obesity and mortality: The Pennington Center Longitudinal Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and all-cause mortality. The sample included 1089 white men and women 18–84 years of age from the Pennington Center Longitudinal Study, a prospective cohort of participants assessed between 1995 and 2008, and followed for mortality until 31 December 2009. Abdominal VAT was measured at the L4–L5 vertebral level using computed tomography. There were 27 deaths during an average of 9.1 years of follow-up. Abdominal VAT was significantly associated with mortality after adjustment for age, sex and year of examination (hazards ratio (HR) 1.46; 95% confidence interval 1.05–2.05). The association was stronger after the inclusion of abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), smoking status, alcohol consumption and leisure-time physical activity as additional covariates (HR 1.74; 1.17–2.59). Limiting the sample to participants who were free of stroke, heart disease and cancer at baseline reduced the strength of the relationship slightly (HR 1.62; 1.07–2.47). Abdominal SAT was not associated with mortality, either alone or in combination with VAT and other covariates. The results support the assertion that abdominal VAT is an important therapeutic target for obesity reduction efforts.     

Decreasing rates of natural deaths in a remote Australian Aboriginal community, 1996–2010

Objective : To examine the trends of all‐cause natural mortality for people aged 15 years and over in a remote Australian Aboriginal community between 1996 and 2010. Methods : The annual population in the community by gender and age group was obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). All known deaths and all records of start of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for renal failure were recorded between 1996 and 2010. Five‐year aggregated death rates were calculated and the changes in natural mortality over the interval were evaluated. Mortality was compared with those of the Northern Territory (NT) Indigenous and non‐Indigenous people as a whole from 1998 to 2006. Results : Rates of natural deaths were lower in the third interval 2006–2010 relative to the first interval 1996–2000, with higher, but more rapidly falling rates for females than males. Reductions were prominent for both sexes in the 65 and over age groups, but death rates in females of earlier middle age also trended lower. The trends applied whether or not the starting of RRT was considered as a natural death. There was a similar trend in rates of natural death in the aggregate Indigenous population of NT. Conclusions: The downward trends probably reflect improvements in risk factor status since the 1960s, all‐of‐life health interventions, as well as better chronic disease management in the last two decades. The higher death rates in females than males in this community remain unexplained, but the rapid rate of decline of female death rates predicts that this gap will soon be minimised.     

重庆市孕前生殖健康与出生结局队列：设计简介与建设概况

出生队列是研究生命早期暴露对健康结局影响的重要工具, 但目前缺乏有力支撑孕前暴露特别是父系暴露对生殖健康和妊娠结局影响研究的大型队列平台。重庆市孕前生殖健康与出生结局队列研究是起始于孕前阶段, 同等关注男女双方的环境、心理、行为等暴露因素对生殖健康和不良妊娠结局影响的前瞻性队列研究。项目于2019年正式启动, 计划招募有生育意愿的育龄夫妇20 800人。通过随访, 调查志愿者2年内是否自然受孕。对进入妊娠期的女性志愿者, 在孕早、中、晚期进一步随访, 并对分娩的子代随访至2岁, 监测早产、低出生体重、出生缺陷、神经功能发育障碍等结局发生情况。各阶段分别采集相应的数据信息和生物样本, 包括精液、外周血、尿液、胎盘、脐带、脐带血、口腔拭子等。截至2022年1月, 已纳入志愿者8 698人, 分布于重庆市所有38个区/县。本队列建设目标是成为涵盖父母双方的前瞻性大样本孕前出生队列, 将以独特的设计和更加全面的视角阐明全生育周期特别是孕前期暴露因素对生殖健康和不良出生结局的影响及机制。     

中国老年人群牙齿缺失与全因死亡风险关联的前瞻性队列研究

 目的 探讨中国老年人群余留牙齿数量与全因死亡的关联。方法 基于2011－2018年中国老年健康影响因素跟踪调查(CLHLS)纵向随访资料,通过调查问卷获取调查对象的基线特征、既往病史、余留牙齿数量等信息,采用Katz量表和简易智能状态检查量表评估日常活动能力和认知功能。采用多因素Cox等比例风险模型评估余留牙齿数量与全因死亡的关联。结果 共纳入8658例老年人,男3895例(45.0%),女4763例(55.0%),平均年龄为(85.7±11.2)岁,经7年随访,死亡4488例(51.8%),牙齿余留数量与年龄增长呈负相关(P<0.05)。多因素Cox回归结果显示,在调整年龄、性别、身体质量指数(body mass index,BMI)、吸烟、饮酒、锻炼、高血压、呼吸道疾病、心血管疾病、日常活动能力失能、认知功能受损等因素后,余留牙齿数量每增加一个,全因死亡风险下降1%,与余留牙齿数量为0的老年人相比,≥20颗余留牙齿的老年人的全因死亡风险下降22%。结论 中国老年人群余留牙齿数量的减少可能增加全因死亡风险,应预防老年人群牙齿脱落。     

Constructing Large Scale Cohort for Clinical Study on Heart Failure with Electronic Health Record in Regional Healthcare Platform: Challenges and Strategies in Data Reuse

Regional healthcare platforms collect clinical data from hospitals in specific areas for the purpose of healthcare management. It is a common requirement to reuse the data for clinical research. However, we have to face challenges like the inconsistence of terminology in electronic health records (EHR) and the complexities in data quality and data formats in regional healthcare platform. In this paper, we propose methodology and process on constructing large scale cohorts which forms the basis of causality and comparative effectiveness relationship in epidemiology. We firstly constructed a Chinese terminology knowledge graph to deal with the diversity of vocabularies on regional platform. Secondly, we built special disease case repositories (i.e., heart failure repository) that utilize the graph to search the related patients and to normalize the data. Based on the requirements of the clinical research which aimed to explore the effectiveness of taking statin on 180-days readmission in patients with heart failure, we built a large-scale retrospective cohort with 29647 cases of heart failure patients from the heart failure repository. After the propensity score matching, the study group (n=6346) and the control group (n=6346) with parallel clinical characteristics were acquired. Logistic regression analysis showed that taking statins had a negative correlation with 180-days readmission in heart failure patients. This paper presents the workflow and application example of big data mining based on regional EHR data.     

Person‐related determinants of TV viewing and computer time in a cohort of young Dutch adults: Who sits the most?

We aimed to assess the associations of person‐related factors with leisure time television (TV) viewing and computer time among young adults. We analyzed self‐reported TV viewing (h/week) and leisure computer time (h/week) from 475 Dutch young adults (47% male) who had participated in the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study at the age of 32 and 36 years. Sociodemographic factors (i.e., marital and employment status), physical factors (i.e., skin folds, aerobic fitness, neuromotor fitness, back problems), psychological factors (i.e., problem‐ and emotion‐focused coping, personality), lifestyle (i.e., alcohol consumption, smoking, energy intake, physical activity), and self‐rated health (i.e., general health status, mild health complaints) were assessed. Univariable and multivariable generalized estimating equations were performed. Male gender, higher sum of skin folds, lower values of aerobic fitness, higher rigidity, higher self‐sufficiency/recalcitrance, and smoking were positively associated with TV time. Male gender, higher sum of skin folds, higher scores on self‐esteem, low energy intake, and a not so good general health status were significantly associated with higher computer time. Determinants of TV viewing and computer time were not identical, suggesting that both behaviors (a) have different at‐risk populations and (b) should be targeted differently.